The Real World > Products and Services
Wind Turbines
SilverJeep:
I've heard about making a vertical axis turbine from a plastic 55 ga drum. Haven't looked into how well it performs but have heard it's easy to make.
parallel:
reading the Where will the 'safe belt' be? thread, I was reminded of research I did some while back on cheap wind turbines, thougth I should post it. Though I have not tried it, but I will order it and test when I can afford it.
For a cheap and good quality turbine, the UK based Hornet (1KW) seems the best
capable of producing 1400 Watts in winds over 70 MPH, enough to provide for basic needs, he also sells a 'dump load' water heater, so if push comes to shove, living without fossil fuels would be possible.
_http://www.windgenerator.org.uk/
_http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hornet-Windturbine
If money is really tigth there are quite a few DIY instructions online, though these would require quite some skills to make storm proof. Another note FWIW, I spoke to one guy who was selling his turbine as he hadn't calculated that his farm was in a depression (not alot of wind) so for him it was not viable to have, unless of course the grid broke down.
Nienna:
--- Quote from: parallel on December 31, 2010, 12:30:23 AM ---reading the Where will the 'safe belt' be? thread, I was reminded of research I did some while back on cheap wind turbines, thougth I should post it. Though I have not tried it, but I will order it and test when I can afford it.
For a cheap and good quality turbine, the UK based Hornet (1KW) seems the best
capable of producing 1400 Watts in winds over 70 MPH, enough to provide for basic needs, he also sells a 'dump load' water heater, so if push comes to shove, living without fossil fuels would be possible.
_http://www.windgenerator.org.uk/
_http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hornet-Windturbine
If money is really tigth there are quite a few DIY instructions online, though these would require quite some skills to make storm proof. Another note FWIW, I spoke to one guy who was selling his turbine as he hadn't calculated that his farm was in a depression (not alot of wind) so for him it was not viable to have, unless of course the grid broke down.
--- End quote ---
I don't know where you live, parallel, but where I live, we don't have 70mph winds all that often - yet. Is that a typo? If not, that is fairly useless except in extreme winds. :)
parallel:
--- Quote ---I don't know where you live, parallel, but where I live, we don't have 70mph winds all that often - yet. Is that a typo? If not, that is fairly useless except in extreme winds. :)
--- End quote ---
Hi Nienna
You would of course need some exposure to a windy area, to make a turbine viable. A hilly or mountainous place or seafront, maybe even just acces to a high building. 70 mph is not that common as you say, unless you live on the coast or in 'turbulent' times (not that I have eviednece that wind speeds will pick up). The 70 mph figure was just showing that it can output more than the package says if winds allow. At windspeeds of 30 mph the output is 700 W (62 volts / 11.29 Amps). Considering the usual household mini wind turbines (for boats or summerhouses) have a 400 W tag at 50 mph, and can cost as much as three times that of the hornet, it looks like a good pick, but again I have not tried it only read tests.
Nienna:
--- Quote from: parallel on January 01, 2011, 01:04:06 AM ---
--- Quote ---I don't know where you live, parallel, but where I live, we don't have 70mph winds all that often - yet. Is that a typo? If not, that is fairly useless except in extreme winds. :)
--- End quote ---
Hi Nienna
You would of course need some exposure to a windy area, to make a turbine viable. A hilly or mountainous place or seafront, maybe even just acces to a high building. 70 mph is not that common as you say, unless you live on the coast or in 'turbulent' times (not that I have eviednece that wind speeds will pick up). The 70 mph figure was just showing that it can output more than the package says if winds allow. At windspeeds of 30 mph the output is 700 W (62 volts / 11.29 Amps). Considering the usual household mini wind turbines (for boats or summerhouses) have a 400 W tag at 50 mph, and can cost as much as three times that of the hornet, it looks like a good pick, but again I have not tried it only read tests.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for clarification, parallel. :)
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